THE N W YORKER Jacques Tati, who has the same star- tled but benevolen t acceptance of the sophisticated lunacies that have crept up unnoticed on most of the world. Woody Allen has a perfect cOlnmand of the language of TV, of drugstore orders, of psychodnalytic banalities, of the enviable .l\merican comic genius for going too far, of the kind of bOln- bastic and hopeful flirting with iron- clad girls which dates back even far- ther than Groucho's with Margc1ret DUInont. He hates and fears mechani- cal jokery alrnost more than he hates and fears kitchen gadgets. He ,;tarted to write gags when he was fifteen- in high schooL where he uncon- vincIngly describes himself as having varied froln "below average to way below average." At Trader Vic's, as he seemed sometilnes to be sinking un- heard inside the horrible len t jacket, he had a rUIn punch without rUIn, be- caUSe he duesn't drink (01 smoke), and had zealous discussions about funni- ness and filrns. The seriousness prob- ably has a lot to do with 1us funniness. It certainly has everything to do with his imperturbable tenacity, and his easy telnper when he is directing the filrlls he writes. 1 had just watched hÎ1n acting all day on a sound stage, editing in his head as he went tlong. He had been encased in an arlnored headpiece that horribly augured uses for steel two hun- dred years hence. His whitened, slap- . k f " Sl " . stIC ace- eeper reVIves a great filrn tradition-was steaming under the makeup. His only relief had heen a Hershey hal, but his equanilnity re- mained unstirred and the atlnosphere had spread. "T ati and J ack Benn ! want actors to be good," he saId once. So does '-'Voody Allen. "'City Lights' and 'The Gold Rush' and 'The Navigator' and 'The General' are the four great cOlnedies, at en' t they r" he asked, as if anyone else would know better than he would. "'rhey have a resonance because thev're serious. Tati is serious." He had a think, looking eager but doleful. "Colnedy is such hard work, isn't it? And Inaybe it isn't that Important. Not enough to Inake a fuss about. Not like dralna. Drdlna has romance." " H ' d ... K ..." asn t cOlne y r eaton r "\7 es, but dralna... I worship dr1.ma. Beckett. . . His rhythln, too." "Ked ton once told me that he and Chaplin Inissed the sound of the calneras cranking after the) stopped m<1 king silen t filrns. Because of the rhythm," I said. \Ve talked about that for a bit. "Beckett is a beautiful cOlnedi1.n, of course," he said. "Never frenetic. The exact opposite of 'It's a Mad, Mad, , Å' "'=...... '- , ,1'- \ \ \' ' lVlad, Mad \Vodd.' 'Mad \Vorld' wasn't about anything. \Vell, though, as \ve were saying, comedy is such diffi- cult work. You'll see people on d come- (h with long Llces, wondering where the Llughs'll COlne, how to get theIn, how to get the rhythm righ t. 1 t can make for a terrible attnosphere. \Vhen I was writing for the Sid Caesal shows, the) were a mL1SS of hostilities and jealousies. On the other hand, SOlneone told me that on the set of a heavy Inglndl BergI11dn religious dl dI11a people are kidding an the time." "'Thclt would be partly the repertor)- COll1pan) 1110od? Everyone knowing everyone else r " "It's all very hard work." He sighed. "1 like work. I'ln going to be out of a job soon, when this filrn's finished, and I don't know what 1'ln . d " gOIng to o. "\V rite YOUI onc-act plav? 'The last J Þ ^t N f'" "'" " 'l\ ",. 11: i .-. ,,-" f i \. , ,\ \1 It "\ :: \f \ \ :\ .... \ ,-'" ,,' ..... " \ .... . -\ t \ " Ii' \ \... t \ ' t \, \- f<. , ^ , ØI-- , \; tVERGLADES " . \ 41 of the three that go together rrhe , . d " ... " ones you re gOIng tu Irect r "Yes." He cheerld up and had S0I11c egg rolls. "It's a question of technique, isn't it? " "Solneone first-rate onCe said that all artIstic problelns 1.re realI, techni- cal. " "1 think that's right" He 1.1 ways looks as if he were taking a watch apart when he is thinking about dn idea or dis111embel ing the works of a joke, which he does devotedl)" as if he had a rnagnifving glass screwed into his eye. "F eHini is perhaps the great technician. His camera movelnents." \' hen \Voodv is talkin about camera '-- InovèInents, he win swivel two fin- gers of his right hand like 1. pair of compasse<;; in geolnetry. And when he i<;; planning a Cll t in production on the set, he unconsciously moves his fingc rs apart as If they made a slIng \ \ \\ 1 \ \ " \ / < þd j\ , ( , \I '"", \ II j .... " : } * ....... \) " .' t- H^ ,.,. .: j.: Ø! t j$'V . ., . ... .<, ..1í f!' ''^# "-..........." , q ... , \ l\ h >, -- }- . . '"" -. . * '.^'. "t .1$..... . .. J: . . . "'0 , ..-..' ' "'- . h .' 1>-' h.., '*- :Y. :#$ '" . . *' . I::,;. ......:.. ' " ". . .. ......... .: :.. :" . ..;,.....